A Thankless Job
by VeraRose19
Summary: We expect women to work like they don't have children and raise children as if they don't work.


**I will hopefully be updating "The Broken Road" and "But We Lost It" soon. Thanks to everyone who is reading those stories and I'm sorry it's been awhile. I've been pretty busy with "real life" things lately, however, it's definitely inspired this one-shot. **

"Mommy…mommy…" five-year-old Nicky's voice was growing fainter and fainter, though she still persisted in calling out to her mother, who compressed her lips into a thin line as she looked back at her daughter from the doorway of the bedroom.

"If she sleeps and you have the time, I'd appreciate if you'd run a mop down the hallway. She made a mess out there too," Marka sighed and rubbed a hand over her eyes.

"Of course," Paloma nodded her head compliantly. She looked back towards the large king size bed in the centre of the master bedroom.

She had never before seen inside Marka Nichols' bedroom, which was strictly off limits as a general rule. Though after Nicky had woken up with an upset stomach in the middle of the night and begged to climb in with her, Marka had given in. She'd made a quick job about wiping up the sick in the hallway and tossing her daughter's soiled sheets into the washing machine, before attempting to get some more of the much-needed rest she would need to do everything the day demanded of her.

"Mommy-mommy-" Nicky called out again.

"Yes, darling," Marka turned to look back at her daughter. "Try to get some sleep…. Paloma, do I smell okay to you?"

Paloma chuckled nervously as Marka moved a little closer towards her, and she breathed in the sweet aroma of the woman's perfume combined with the fresh scent of her dry-cleaned linen suit.

"Yes…" Paloma answered awkwardly.

"Okay, then," Marka shrugged, "I can't get the smell of that girl's vomit out of my nose…. I'm going to be late tonight. I'm meeting with a client for dinner and it will look bad if I try to cancel on him."

"Not to worry," Paloma shook her head. "Nicky and I will be just fine."

"Give her a bath please," Marka said. "I won't have time tonight. I gave her a dosage of medicine just before you got here, so she'll need another one in four hours. And see if you can get her to eat something. She didn't want breakfast. Not even a bit of dry toast."

"Do you think she should go to the doctor?" Paloma asked uncertainly. Nicky had buried her face into one of the pillows on her mother's bed. She looked so tiny in it by herself, curled up into a little ball. The television was turned to cartoons but she wasn't paying any attention to it.

Marka bit down on her bottom lip and glanced back at her daughter. "Let's see how she is tomorrow," she replied. "It's probably just a 24-hour virus that she picked up from one of the kids she played with."

"I'll take good care of her," Paloma promised.

"Thank you," Marka flashed her a small smile. She turned back to Nicky. "Bye, sweetheart," she called, and blew her a kiss. She didn't want to get too close. She didn't have time to change if Nicky made a mess of her clothes again, and already she was praying she wouldn't catch whatever this was. She had a busy week at the office and simply couldn't afford to get sick right now.

"Mummy has to go to work," she reminded her. "Be a good girl for Paloma and I'll be home tonight."

"Don't go," Nicky began to cry. She pulled back the blankets on the bed and was about to rush over to wrap her arms around her mother, but Paloma moved too quickly and settled her back down onto the pillow.

"I'll call you at lunch," Marka promised, shooting an anxious glance at the gold watch on her wrist. She was already running late and had a meeting with a prospective intern to get to. She called a final goodbye to her daughter and then hurried down the winding staircase to the foyer. Her briefcase and purse were set neatly by the door, and as she gathered them up, she felt a pang of guilt for the cries emitting from the second floor though there was nothing else she could do about it. Nicky was in good hands with Paloma anyway, and Marka had a full day of work that wouldn't complete itself.

XXX

It was snowing hard, the flakes flashing in the street lights as Galina hurried home as fast as she could. The night was dark and her back and shoulders ached with knots that she hoped a hot shower would soothe most of the pain from. Her breasts felt sore too. They were engorged and felt tight against the bra that had fit perfectly fine when she had gotten herself dressed for work that morning. A consequence of transitioning into being a working mama. She would love it if she could someday find a way to provide for her family that didn't require being away from them most of the day.

When she turned the corner and the apartment building, they had called home for the better part of five years came into view, Galina broke out into very nearly a run. The heels on her black winter boots stabbed into the slush on the sidewalk. Over her shoulder was the large tote bag that held her purse and the indoor shoes she wore inside the factory. As she raced up the stairs and reached the landing of her apartment, she could hear the noise emitting on the other side of the door. She turned her key in the lock and walked into that welcome sight. The living room was trashed with trains and trucks that surrounded her three favourite boys. Their happy cries of _"mama_" were music to her ears as she dropped down to her knees and gathered them into her arms.

"You're late," her mother-in-law remarked in Russian. She had a spatula in one hand that she rested on her hip as she observed her. "I was about to send out a search party looking for you."

"Sorry," Galina replied. She scooped Vasily, her youngest, up into her arms as she rose back to her feet. "One of the machines broke down and delayed us. They wouldn't let any of us go until we finished the orders."

"Hmft," her mother-in-law scoffed. "Well, I started supper for you. It's nearly done. The children couldn't wait much longer."

"Thank you," Galina said dryly, resisting the urge to roll her eyes until her mother-in-law turned her back. She slipped out of her boots and then removed her coat, one side at a time, so that she would not have to put Vasily down. Her two older sons giggled as they helped her pull it off.

"Tell me about school," she asked her boys eagerly as she walked over to the sofa and sank down onto it. Maxsim attended half-a-day pre-school, and Yuri went to junior kindergarten. They both always brought home arts and crafts and seemed happy enough, though it was usually difficult to get any information out of them.

"Did you have fun with Baba?" she asked, kissing Maxsim's lips as he leaned into her. Vasily was tugging insistently at the buttons of the uniform shirt she wore at the factory. She thought going back to work would have forced him to wean, but it had persisted in being the first thing he looked for whenever she got home. As he latched onto her breast, Galina felt an instant relief as the rock hardness in her engorged right began to lessen. She let out a deep sigh as she leaned back into the cushions on her sofa.

"Baba took us to the park after school," Yuri shared.

"Did she?" Galina smiled, using the free hand that wasn't holding Vasily in place, to brush some of the red hair out of her son's eyes. She'd need to get him a haircut soon. "And how was that?"

"I did the monkey bars," Yuri told her. "Well...almost all the money bars. But then I fell down."

"Well, that's still pretty impressive," Galina said wistfully. "Will you show me?"

"When?" asked Yuri bluntly. "You don't go to the park anymore."

"Well, sometimes I do," Galina replied, feeling slightly hurt. "We could go this weekend."

Again, Yuri shook his head, as Vasily turned his head up to look at her, and twisted her nipple in the process in a way that made her wince. "Baba said it's going to snow a lot tonight and we can't go to the park if its snowing, Mama."

"Ohhhh." Galina wasn't sure what to say. She watched Maxsim scurry across the toy strewn floor back to his Grandmother who scooped him up into a hug, and then proceeded to continue putting the finishing touches on dinner. It smelled delicious, which annoyed Galina to no end. Cooking for her family was one of her favourite things to do and since she had gotten this job, it seemed like she never had the time to do anything else. Her mother-in-law took care of the meals during the week, spoke to the teachers, and handled all the other motherly tasks Galina missed out on because she had to go to work. She felt as if her parenting time had been restricted to the weekends during which she tried fervently to reconnect and convince herself that she wasn't losing her babies to her mother-in-law.

"Is Dmitri not home yet?" she asked, as Vasily finished suckling on her right breast and turned his focus to her other one.

"He's having a rest," her mother-in-law replied. "You can go wake him up when you're done doing _that." _She waved her hand towards Vasily nursing with a look of distaste. "Tell him supper is ready."

"Okay," Galina said faintly.

"Did he tell you what the plans are for this weekend?" her mother-in-law asked.

"No, what?" Galina frowned.

"Oh, I thought he did tell you," her mother-in-law replied. "Well, he has a few surprises up his sleeves, but he wanted to take you away this weekend to celebrate your anniversary. The boys are excited to spend the night with me and Papa."

"Well, I'm not sure how comfortable I am with that," Galina said tightly. "I don't like leaving them overnight." She didn't like leaving them all day to go to work either. She hated having to depend on her mother-in-law to watch her boys so much, though she did realize she was lucky to have her help. It was just that as mothers they had different styles, and it was hard for Galina to have the final say in how her children were being brought up when she was barely ever around to enforce it. Now they wanted to keep them overnight on the weekend too?

"Mama, we're going to sleep over at Baba's house," Yuri told her excitedly, while Maxsim skipped back over to her and began jumping up and down.

"Can I bring my toys to Baba's?" he asked her eagerly.

"I suppose," Galina said dryly. It seemed she was out numbered and she could hardly deprive her sons of more time with their devoted grandparents when it was clear that they really wanted to go. Vasily finished nursing and she set him down on the floor. "Let's clean the toys off the floor first though," she instructed them.

The boys obediently began to pick up their mess, and Galina buttoned her blouse up and then walked over to the kitchen side of the apartment.

"It will be good for you," her mother-in-law said, patting her gently on the hand.

"Mhmm," Galina nodded her head sadly, watching as her boys raced one another to pick up the most toys. "I just feel like I'm missing out on everything…"

"You're doing what you have to do," her mother-in-law reminded her. She laughed lightly. "Just don't make another one this weekend...I'm not sure I want to take on a fourth."

XXX

"Just one moment," Gloria held a finger up to the customer who was approaching the counter with a case of pop in one hand and today's paper in the other. The customer shot her a look of annoyance but Gloria just shrugged her shoulders helplessly and turned her back to him.

"Uh huh, uh huh…" she said impatiently into the phone, grabbing a fistful of her hair as she listened to the director of her son's daycare continue to ramble on. She turned her head and watched the customer slam his items onto the counter and then walk out of the store. The bell chimed as it closed behind him. Taunting her. She had lost another sale and she couldn't exactly afford to be turning customers away.

"Look is there a point to this?" she interrupted. "Otherwise, can you just wait to tell me when I get there for pick up? I'm at work."

"Miss. Mendoza," the director said, sounding surprised at the outburst. "I can't have Benny at daycare if he is behaving this way."

"Behaving like a two-year-old?" Gloria cut in. "All you've told me is that he is having tantrums and trouble sharing toys…. I have four kids. I'm pretty sure that's just par for the course."

"I'm wondering if he slept okay last night?" the director asked. "I just think he would do better having a day at home with you."

"I'd do better with that too," Gloria snapped. "But unfortunately, if I don't work, there won't be a home to discuss."

There was a pause. During which the bell chimed over the door and a couple more people walked in. "So, are you going to come get him?" the director asked.

"Yes!" Gloria exhaled loudly. "Just give me a few minutes to figure things out."

She hung up the phone and closed her eyes tightly. It was hard at times like this to not feel even more resentment than she already did towards her daughters refusing to come live with her. It wasn't that she'd expected them to be on-call babysitters, but there were times that having them around to help would have seriously made her life much easier. Now, Gloria was left feeling flushed and a little out of breath. She had a son on the verge of being kicked out of a daycare program and no doubt they'd still charge her for the full day anyway. Gloria quickly ran through her customers items and then picked up the phone once they had left the store.

"No, Gloria!" Lourdes exclaimed, once she had finished explaining the situation to her aunt.

"Well, what else do you want me to do?" Gloria snapped. "I'm at work. I can't just leave."

"You need to find more reliable childcare," Lourdes told her. "Because this can't keep happening."

"Well, maybe I should start buying scratch tickets so I can win millions and not have to work," Gloria said impatiently.

"You made me pick up Julio from daycare three times last month!" Lourdes complained.

"They kept insisting he had a fever and sending him home," Gloria said dryly. "What was I supposed to do? Break into the school and give him a dosage of Tylenol without anyone noticing?"

"Why didn't you give him some in the morning?" Lourdes asked.

"I did," Gloria replied. "That's how I got him through the door, but unfortunately it wears off before pickup."

"Ah, _mija, _you've got to figure something out," Lourdes said. "I work and have other things I need to do."

"Tia, I know," Gloria closed her eyes.

"You are the one who chose to have these kids, so it's your responsibility to take care of them," Lourdes added.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Gloria asked sarcastically. "Do you have a potion that will let me be in two places at once? Because otherwise, I'm out of ideas."

"I don't know what you can do," Lourdes replied. "But you need to figure something out. I'll go get him this time though."

"Thank you," Gloria breathed a sigh of relief. They hung up shortly after that and Gloria got back to work with a knot of foreboding in her stomach. She hated constantly begging her aunt for help. She wanted to take care of her children by herself. She worked hard to financially provide, she loved them more than anything and spent as much time with them as she could...but it didn't work. If there was an answer, she knew she would have already found it.

**Thank you for reading. **


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